Dutch Dare

This is the first time I've entered The Dutch Dare Challenge, I only found it this week as Spiral Whisper Stamps are now sponsors and there's some absolutely beautiful work there. The challenge this week is to make a card for a girl and I've made mine for a little girl using this cute Imaginisce giraffe stamp. For the pink card blank I punched out nine squares from some Pebbles Baby Pink Dots paper and arranged them in a square. I saw something similar to this layout on Valerie's Poupetteval blog where she made a wonderful card using lots of squares with a batik effect technique and stamped over them in white, it looks amazing and I must find out how she did it. Brandi Parshley at Barely Banana Days blog made a lovely card and used squares cut from lots of different papers which looked great, thank you for the inspiration ladies! I cut three circles with nestabilities, two of them from white card and one from the Pebbles paper layered them up and attached to the card on 2mm dimension tape. I've cut a strip of this gorgeous organza ribbon and attached at the side with a bow over it, must get some more of this as I've used it all now, so must take a trip to Hobbycraft. The sentiment is Doodlebug rub on letters,

I used Colorbox lilac ink to stamp the giraffe and water colour it with Brilliance metallic lilac and pink and then went over with Pebbles pearlescent chalk as the ink didn't really colour that evenly, I also chalked the white circle underneach the cut out giraffe, in pink. I'm always mentioning that when I use glitter I can rarely get the sparkle to show up but this time there's so much pearly sheen you can hardly see the giraffe!!! I possibly needed a slightly darker colour to stamp with. CHALK this one up to experience! TFL.

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Chris

Best Fishes

The theme on Cute Card Thursday this week is 'In the water' and I've used High Hopes fish and seaweed stamps for this card. I stamped them on white card cut out with nestabilities and water coloured with Ranger distress inks, layered over another nestabilities scalloped oblong and doodled dots in the scallops with a Sakura silver metallic pen. The panel is mounted on dimension tape over the background of swirly water paper which was in my stash, I don't know the make I'm afraid. I added a sentiment with doodlebug rub on letters, some bubbles with a white opaque gel pen and some star dust stickles to the image. The pretty cord at the top was sent to me by a friend and has a lovely silver metallic thread in it which doesn't show up that well in the picture. TFL.

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Chris

Hill Top Villages

A card with another of my background design stamps for Spiral Whisper, Hill Top Villages. I've made this one as a Z fold card and given it a vintage style (hopefully). The idea for this drawing came from the hill top villages we saw when on holiday in Sicily a couple of years ago, the scenery is beautiful. I think this stamp will be good for many occasions and could also be used for male cards.

The image is stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink twice, water coloured with Ranger distress inks and after sponging the edges, matted on black card over a layer of white which is also sponged and stamped with a manuscript background stamp by Hero Arts. I did a similar panel of the sponged and text background on the first panel of the card and added a sentiment from the Inkadinkado Garden set. On the second image I stamped I coloured only the lemon tree on the left and the fir trees on the right, cut them out, shaped them slightly and layered over those on the complete image with glue gel. The card base is from one sheet of A4 card cut lengthways to fit the image panel and then scored width ways also to fit the image panel and then in the centre between the first fold and the left hand edge to make the two other panels.
The centre panel can be used to write a greeting or could also be decorated, I've left mine plain. TFL.

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Chris

The Big Top

Today's card uses the new High Hopes Circus stamps and all the characters are stamped in versafine, water coloured with distress inks and cut out. They're all mounted on 1mm dimension tape.

I cut the card base to give the shape of a circus tent, covered with Doodlebug striped paper and black card for the inside. Cut flags and stars from some sparkly blue card and used these to make a rope of flags along the canopy and on the tent poles, the stars are placed for the circus ring which is drawn with a white gel pen. I added loads and loads of stickles which I wish would show up more in photographs but it's very sparkly. Made a banner for the top with the sentiment and sponged around this and all the edges of the tent. TFL.

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Chris

Four in one

A card for four challenges today! House Mouse and Friends challenge is lace, Friday Sketchers which has a lovely sketch this week by Carole, A Spoon full of sugar where the challege is to use three different ribbons and Papertake Weekly with a challenge to use stitching of some type which can be faux.

I used this cute housemouse and birdie singing a duet and coloured with ranger distress inks, layered on dark blue bazzil and white card that I punched a lacy style border into. I did the same with the Woodware sentiment. The angled square is more of the blue bazzil and Pink Petticoat paper and the bottom layer is also a pretty pink petticoat design paper. I doodled for the stitching element with a black fineliner, added the three ribbons, gems and a green flower with gem to finish. TFL.

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Chris

To the fair

A card for Cute Card Thursday where the challenge is 'Bright' and I think this is another get your sunglasses on card! I received three of my stamps from Kitty at Spiral Whisper this week, very exciting to see my designs all beautifully packaged up with my name on them! So after the initial excitement and not wanting to spoil them by opening them I chose 'To the fair' to stamp today as this is the first background design I did and is from the drawing that started it all off.

First of all I loved how it stamped, a beautiful clean impression and I used Versafine Black Onyx ink which is my favourite and shows up the details very well. I stamped the scene twice, the whole of it once and then the lower half and water coloured with Ranger distress inks. The lower half is cut out and layered over the complete scene with 1mm dimension tape. The image was then matted on white card over a white card blank that I sponged with distress ink in all the colours used in the scene plus black around the edges. The two lovely Magnolia images (thanks Tania!!!) were also water coloured with the distress inks and I added stickles on their wings, cut them out and placed over the card blank on dimension tape. TFL.

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Chris

New Zodiac Kadoodle Designs

Here are some new Kadoodle designs by my fellow stamp designer Sandra Dry. I think they're absolutely brilliant, cute and funny! They're such a great idea, I haven't seen anything like these before with zodiac signs perfect for kids cards, I think they would also be just right for Halloween. Fantastic work Sandra!!!!

These will be available in the shop from Bank Holiday Monday 25th August.

Reflective

No challenge card today but I just wanted to colour this lovely Image kindly donated by my friend Tania, it's called Reflective by Elizabeth Bell for Sugar Nellie. She's so pretty and I've coloured her with distress inks and mounted her on black card and cut around. I really can't remember what this card fold is called at the moment but the two flaps have black card cut and stuck over the blue dp, I've doodled flowers with Sakura glaze pens and added the image panel over these. I've made a window on the right hand panel and drawn the panes, curtains etc and then gone over with glaze for the effect of glass. I added the sentiment and some paper flowers with gems to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Kadoodle Christmas Sparkle

A card for the Papertake Weekly challenge which this week is to follow a sketch. I've used my Kadoodle James in his Santa Hat again which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils and Sansodor. I used some Doodlebug Christmas paper from last year and layered it with dark red Bazzil card that was embossed in the Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. The edges are all sponged with Ranger Distress ink and I've highlighted the embossed snowflakes, the dots on the paper and the hat and holly with Stickles. The sentiment is from the Woodware Christmas set cut out with Nestabilities circles. TFL.

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Chris

House Mouse and Friends Challenge Number One

I've found a new challenge blog which is House Mouse and friends Monday Challenge. It was lovely to find this challenge as I have a few House Mouse stamps, they were almost the first stamps I bought when I started making cards and a lot of them make me laugh.

This is the first week of the challenge and the theme is 'New'. I've made a baby card for my entry using my House Mouse Friends baby bunny stamp. The image is coloured with distress inks and cut out and embossed on the edge with nestabilities. I cut a scalloped circle in lemon card which has been scored in a diagonal pattern on my score board, I was trying to get the effect of a baby quilt and I've added tiny pearls in each scallop. The bunny image is mounted on the scalloped circle using dimension tape over the card blank which has been embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. I stamped the Elzybells sentiment in black, added another pearl to the opposite side and pastel organza ribbon at the top. TFL.

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Chris

Sparkly Tag

The theme on Tag You're It this week is Christmas in August. I used the same embossing style as on my card in a previous post where the card was embossed with the Christmas Ornaments embossing folder, swiped with Versamark then embossed with Kalaedascope sparkly embossing powder which I also used around the edges of the little sentiment tag. This time I also used some white embossing powder over part of the tag and sponged the edges slightly with dark blue ink. I punched a hole, once again on the wrong end of the tag and threaded through the ribbon and onto the little tag, added the little punched flower and gems to finish. TFL.

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Chris

In the Dog House

For the Spoonful of Sugar Challenge this week the challenge is a sketch. I used my Elzybells Dog stamp which I love, he's very cute and I stamped him in Versafine timber brown ink on blossom Bazzil card. I was also following an SCS colour challenge for this card of Blossom, Ruby Red and Cocoa. The image is water coloured with Ranger distress inks and all the mats and layers are in the same two colours of Bazzil card. I've stamped the Elzybells paw prints stamp on the edges of the other two layers and the Woodware sentiment in Ranger Tea Dye ink. I outlined the doggy with a black fine liner to make him stand out a bit from the background, added the ribbon beneath the image panel and stickles to finish.

I was delighted to find out today that I won the challenge prize last week which was a new release High Hopes stamp. I love High Hopes stamps and you may have noticed that I have a few already! The latest releases are gorgeous and this one will go perfectly with the Show Girl and her Horse. I'm a great admirer of Chrissy Armstrong's stamp designs, she also makes the most beautiful cards and more importantly, she's a lovely lady. So a big, big thank you to A Spoonful of Sugar and their great Sponsor Silly Monkey Crafts for donating the prize. TFL.

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Chris

Bunny Pots

A card for the Our Creative Corner challenge which this week is to follow a sketch. The Penny Black Bunny image donated by a friend is coloured with Ranger distress inks. The matting and background layers are cut from dark gold and black Bazzil card one of which was cut with a wavy cutter blade and doodled and the other embossed with a leaf embossing folder in the cuttlebug. I added the Elzybells sentiment to the white card blank, more doodling, the ribbon and flower with gem to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Cold as ice

A card for this week's Tilda and Co Challenge. The challenge is 'Cold as Ice'. I used Tilda with bouquet as I don't have any winter Magnolias but a Christmas Card seemed to fit with the cool theme.

The image is stamped in Blue versafine and coloured with distress inks, cut out and mounted on the acetate card. I made a wrap for the card by cutting out a blank with nestabilities leaving a portion at the top for the fold. The wrap was embossed with the Christmas ornaments CB folder, inked with dark blue, swiped with versafine and embossed with Kaleidascope ep. I attached the wrap around the acetate card and dotted with stickles for snowflakes (I kind of got this idea from Dawn (all pink girl) who made a beautiful half acetate card last week and dotted the acetate with gems and it looked lovely, hope you don't mind my borrowing your idea? You can see Dawn's card by following the link above).

This card is a bit of an experiment, not sure if I like it that much and I forgot to add the ribbon for the picture. The design isn't quite balanced but I do like the irridescent effect on the embossing. I also now have glitter covered ink pads!

Lilac Sweet Peas

I've managed three challenges in one with this card. Friday Sketchers Challenge 15, Penny Black Saturday to use ribbons and the SCS Inspiration Challenge where the inspiration piece is patterned swimwear.

I used my Penny Black Sweet Pea Image which was inked using a paintbrush and distress inks then stamped on white card and embossed with detail clear EP. The edges were distressed, torn, then sponged with lavender and old paper. Image and sentiment (also embossed with clear ep) are matted on Eau de nil bazzil card and mounted over the background paper that I made in photoshop, printed out and distressed in the same way as the image. I added ribbons in line with the Penny Black and Friday Sketchers challenges and some sponged flowers and gems. The colours fit in with the SCS Inspiration Challenge. TFL.

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Chris

The Snowman

A card for an SCS challenge to make a card featuring a Snowman. I used my Stamps Happen 'Snowman and Friends' stamp bought just before Christmas last year and which I didn't really get the chance to use in time. It's a huge stamp but works really well with Versafine ink. I've water coloured with Ranger distress inks and highlighted the snowflakes with a white gel pen. The image is loaded with stickles in various colours but unfortunately it doesn't show up much in the picture. I matted the image on white and stuck to a black card which I'd embossed in a diagonal criss cross pattern on my scoreboard. The sentiment is matted on the black card and mounted on dimension tape.
I dotted different coloured gems in the centre of the whole diamond shapes that showed outside the image and sentiment. TFL.

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Chris

Butterfly Bear

A card for Cute Card Thursday where the challenge is 'soft furnishing' where such things as material, buttons, ribbons etc can be used on the card. I've watercoloured the little Penny Black Butterfly Bear with distress inks and matted on blue Bazzil card. The background is Pink Petticoat big spots paper with a piece of the blue bazzil embossed with Swiss Dots in the cuttlebug and tied with blue ribbon and a gem. I sponged all edges and over the dots panel with weathered wood distress ink. The sentiment is from a woodware set and I added a blue button tied with some red cord. TFL.

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Chris

Postage themed tag

For this week's challenge on 'Tag You're It' the guest designer Penny, chose the theme of postage. I love the tag she made and as I've never made a tag before, thought I'd enter. The scrap piece of white card is covered in Pink Petticoat paper (which is upside down!!!!!) and sponged with black distress ink on the edges. I used my postage stamp die to cut out the stamp from a scrap of lilac Bazzil Bling and embossed it with one of the folders that came with it, this was also sponged on the edges, and slightly over the embossed design. I stamped the sentiment in versafine ink, punched a hole with a flower shaped punch and tied the ribbons. I enjoyed making the tag, it was quick and I used only leftover scraps which is a great way of using them up. TFL.

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Chris

Secret Message Slider Card

A card for A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge and the challenge is to make a secret message card. I've been wanting to try this style of card for a while as I don't usually make cards that require any kind of construction! My card has a lot more bling on it than usual which hides a multitude of errors and if I make another I'll probably do a couple of things differently. I've learned from this not to use Bazzil Bling for anything that needs folding as the surface splits and not to do afterthought stamping, hence the patterned paper border and flowers to hide the joins! You can find a tutorial on SCS, Hidden Message Slider Card.

I used a perfectly sized, Hangler image, kindly donated by my friend Sandra and coloured her with prismacolor pencils. I added some glossy glaze over the heart and mounted it with dimension tape. The sentiments are from a Hero Arts mini set and were stamped in Versafine black ink. Added the flowers, gems and some scraps of ribbon as a pull for the sliding element to finish. I won't explain how the card is made up as it's a bit long-winded but I think it's a clever idea. TFL.

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Chris

Kadoodle Amelia and James Christmas Gift Box

For the Our Creative Corner challenge this week the challenge is 'Limited Supplies' using no more than four layers and no designer paper. I hope this counts as I've created my own paper by drawing the snowflakes on the plain green card!

My friend Dawn showed me how to make this cute little gift box a couple of weeks ago (thanks Dawn) and I made a few of them up but only got around to decorating this one today. I've made it into a Christmas gift box and used Kadoodle Amelia and present and James in Santa Hat coloured with prismacolor pencils and cut out.

The box is simple to make from one sheet of A4 paper or thinnish card. Score the paper in half across the width, measure and mark the middle of each edge length ways and then score from that point on all four sides to the end of the centre score line. You should end up with a diamond shape of score lines. Fold over on the centre score line, and then each point to the middle and you'll end up with the shape in the photograph. Where the sides meet, punch a hole and thread ribbon through both sides. I might try and photograph my dummy box to show the folding and edit this post later to include it.

To decorate the box I drew on some snowflakes with a Sakura silver pen, doodled around a nestability cut scalloped circle of cream card and stuck this to the box. I also cut out and coloured a stamped holly image and attched this. The other images were placed on the circle. I added the ribbon to close the box and some stickles for a bit of sparkle. TFL.

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Chris

Kadoodle Friends

A card for The Cute Card Thursday challenge and the challenge is 'the two of us'.

Kadoodle James and Zack is stamped in Versafine ink and water coloured with Ranger distress inks. I've tried to give the impression of camo style material on his trousers by dropping in shabby shutters, peeled paint and tea dye on to a wet background of scattered straw. I did a wash background of weathered wood and then sponged around the edges with black soot. The image is mounted on Aubergine Bazzil with dimension tape over the background of Upsy Daisy Designs 'Apple Sauce' paper which is from my Kadoodle DT pack. All the little sentiments are from a Cuttlebug embossing folder that my friend Tania sent to me (Thanks very much Tania), I embossed white card, swiped over with aubergine and black ink. I tore out the words, sponged them all with the two inks and attached with little brads. TFL.

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Chris

Kadoodle Zack ATC

My first ever ATC made for an SCS challenge to use a stained glass technique.

I stamped on acetate with stayzon ink, coloured his body with a Sakura white glaze pen and his spots with a black permanent marker. A piece of white card was covered with Pink Petticoat black spot paper, stamped with Elzybells paw print stamp and sponged with Black Soot distress ink. I cut an oblong window from this and mounted the acetate on the back.
The star is cut with a sizzix die and the edges sponged with the black soot. I wrote the Z with a red pen and glazed over with a colourless glitter pen, did the same with the sentiment stamp.

Added red gems to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Little Hangler Girl

I received a lovely present from my friend Sandra this week of some gorgeous Hanglar stamped images. Thank you Sandra, it's very much appreciated. This card is for Papertake Weekly where the challenge is to use a button or buttons. This sweet little girl is coloured with distress inks and cut out with a circle nestability. I matted on a scalloped circle of lilac Bazzil Bling which has a lovely shimmer. There's stickles dotted about which doesn't show up very well in the picture. The image panel is 3d over the Pink Petticoat background paper and lilac ribbon. I stamped the sentiment in distress ink to finish. TFL.

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Chris

I'd Pick You

A card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which was to work from a sketch. I received the cute hedgehog image from a friend and water coloured it with Distress Inks, edged and highlighted with a Sakura glitter pen and matted on Pink Petticoat paper. I cut other pieces of the same PP paper and arranged over the card blank in line with the sketch. The Elzybells sentiment which I think goes perfectly with the PB image was stamped in Versafine black and arranged in the same way. I added Prima flowers with gems and glitter pen to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Red Butterfly

A simple card for an SCS inspiration challenge, the theme being Oriental and the colours turquoise and red. I love these colours together and enjoyed doing this one. I covered the card with Pink Petticoat swirls paper and stuck down a piece of red satin ribbon. Layered another piece of the paper matted on white over the ribbon on dimension tape and then mounted the butterfly which I'd cut with a CB butterfly die from red bazzil card. I also embossed the butterfly with the corresponding butterfly folder, added a body of liquid pearls and smeared with stardust stickles to give a lacquered effect. I stamped the Elzybells sentiment with black versafine ink. TFL.

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Chris

Kadoodle James in his Santa Hat

A spring card to introduce James in his Santa Hat. James was coloured with prismacolor pencils and Sansodor and then cut out. I stamped a snowflake stamp on white card and then scored and folded it to make the spring up card. The two sparkly red snowflakes were cut with a Sizzix die and arranged on the card under the red satin ribbon with James mounted over them. TFL.

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Chris

Sweet Hangler

A card for A spoon full of sugar 'recycled' challenge and OCC sketch challenge and I hope you have your sunglasses on! I enjoyed colouring this lovely Hangler image that my friend Tania stamped for me with Ranger distress inks. She's cut out (the image that is, not Tania!!!), and mounted on dimension tape over the nestability circles of pink bazzil and scraps of patterned paper so I don't know the brand. The wavy edge element of the sketch was difficult as I don't have a flexi ruler, I had to cut with a craft knife by eye. I cut two layers like this in the pink card and patterned paper and mounted them on a yellow card. I added the sentiment, flower, stickles, little tab and doodling to finish. TFL.

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Chris

Flower Bear

A card for the Papertake Weekly Challenge which is to follow a sketch and the SCS colour challenge to use any of the in colours. The Penny Black image is from my swap stash and is watercoloured with Ranger distress inks. I sponged around the image to calm down the white paper, doodled the edges and highlighted with stickles. The image and dp are matted on black card together with a scalloped strip and all are mounted on the guava card. The image is mounted on dimension tape and to finish I added prima style flowers with gem centres. TFL.

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Chris

Sugar Nellie Chef Hamish

A card for CCT Challenge which is 'In the house'. I chose this cute Chef Hamish image which I received in a swap. I couldn't quite get the colouring right as the paper was reacting in a very strange way with the inks for some reason and I ended up doing more and more to try and cover it up! The image is cut out with the large plain circle nestability and coloured with Ranger distress inks. I inked and doodled all around the embossed edge with a Sakura silver pen. I stamped the sentiment and the little flowers for wallpaper. The card blank is cut using the large scalloped circle nestability (I saw this style of card on someone's blog but can't remember where, but thought I'd try and work out how to do it, thank you whoever you are) and the image was layered on top and finsihed with silver metallic ribbon. TFL.
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Chris

High Hopes Jungle Friends

A shadow box card today and my first attempt at this kind of card which is for the A spoonful of Sugar challenge! I remember seeing one a while ago but couldn't find it again for the measurements so I made it to fit the largest envelope I have. It was easier to make than I thought it would be, I thought it would be very complicated. I cut two pieces of card slightly shorter than the envelope on all sides, scored each end of each piece at half an inch and one inch and then cut a rectangle out of one of them. On the piece that would be the back of the card I stamped the trees and leaves and watercoloured with Ranger distress inks. Some of the animals were coloured with prismacolor
pencils and Sansodor, cut out and arranged on the background using the cut out frame as a guide. To go on the front around the frame I embossed a piece of card with the distressed stripes CB folder, cut this in to four pieces, swiped with an ink pad and stuck around the frame. I sponged around all the edges and then arranged the snake, Monkey Mike, the sentiment and some flowers around it. Both pieces of card were then folded on the scored lines and the two outer flaps stuck together to create the box. TFL.

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Chris

Diamonds are Forever.....

....and also a girls best friend! Here is a card for the Friday Sketchers and Penny Black Saturday Challenges. The Penny Black Diamonds are forever image was stamped in Versafine Black Onyx and coloured with prismacolor pencils and Sansodor, then matted on red Bazzil and white card and fixed with dimension tape over the panel of red, background of Pebbles Dog prints paper and gingham ribbon for the second panel on the sketch I followed. The sentiment panel is a Pebbles rub on, I added dots of stickles here and also on the cat's collar. The collar is studded with gems and three more larger ones are added to the red panel in line with the sketch. TFL.
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Chris

Blue Gingham Paper Download Candy STICKY, SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS

To celebrate my stamp designs going on sale this week at Kadoodle and Spiral Whisper and as a thank you to everyone who's left such encouraging comments for me since I started blogging, I thought I'd add some candy. Not the usual type, this is a digital download of a Blue Gingham Paper that I made. If you click on Blue Gingham Paper you'll be taken to the Scribd document holding website where the paper is available. I'd love it if you'd like to use it and if you do, it would be great if you could let everyone know where you got it. I'll probably leave it here for a week or so. To print the paper I use the photo and borderless settings on my printer. It's possible that the colour may vary from the file shown as all printers seem to have different settings for colour. I hope you like it. Back soon, Chris

Hippy Birthday

I think these Gina K designs 'Just too Hippy' images are really funny andthey were stamped by a friend and used on a card for an SCS challenge. I used the wet watercolour technique to colour hippy, basically just applied water from the brush within the image lines and then added the colour and spread it out. I cut the image out with a plain nestie and layered it on a piece of black card cut with the corresponding scalloped rectangle. The sentiment was trimmed down and layered on the black. These were arranged over the background dp which is two pieces of Pink Petticoat big spots paper cut to half the depth of the card. I added a splash of bright pink with the ribbon to finish. TFL.

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Chris